Hungarian nationality asserted itself definitely in the nineteenth century in the face of strenuous effort on the part of Germans to assimilate the Magyars. The latter took advantage of the defeat of the Austrians at Sadowa in 1867 to reach a compromise with their masters. The Hapsburg Empire was then converted into a Dual Monarchy. For a time the economic advantages of this union lay entirely with Austria. The Hungarian plain, vast and fecund, bestowed the wealth of its fertility on Austria. A land of farmers it also became an important market for the industrial output of its German partner-state. This economic relation was maintained until the beginning of the twentieth century, when Hungary made rapid progress in industry and forced Austria to seek Balkan markets for the disposal of its manufactured goods. Austria’s unsuccessful attempt to dominate Hungary’s economic life accelerated the growth of the germ of dissension between the two countries. The tie that links Budapest to Vienna, at present, is strengthened by Hungarian dread of the Slav. It might have given way long ago otherwise, for in truth Hungary has to face the menace of Pan-Germanism as well. The percentage of native Hungarians in their own country is under 55 per cent and gives them a bare majority over the combined alien peoples.[157] The number of Germans scattered in Hungarian districts is 2,000,000. The only advantage which the natives of the soil possess lies in their occupation of the richest lands in their country. A minor group of Hungarians have settled on the eastern edge of the Transylvania mountains. Here they live surrounded by Rumanians on all sides except on the west where a lone outpost of Saxons brings Teutonic customs and speech to the east. The name of Szekler, meaning frontier guardsmen, applied to this body of Magyars is indicative of their origin. Their presence on the heights overlooking the Rumanian plain bespeaks the desire of Hungarian sovereigns to control the site of a natural rampart dominating their plains. At the end of the thirteenth century this Hungarian colony was in full development. Its soldiers distinguished themselves during the period of war with the Turks. Prestige acquired on battlefields strengthened the separate and semi-independent existence of the community. The region occupied by these Hungarians is situated along the easternmost border of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. It extends west of the uninhabited mountain-frontier district between Tölgyes Pass and Crasna. The towns of Schässburg and Maros Vasarhely lie on its western border. But the area of Rumanian speech situated between the land of the Szekler and the main Hungarian district is studded with numerous colonies of Magyars, thereby rendering delimitation of a linguistic boundary in the region almost impossible.